by Shannon West
“The book?”
“Yes, the old recipe book. They say the demon is bound to it in some way.”
“Good Lord.”
“I know.” I realized I was wringing my hands a little and made an effort to stop. “My gran thinks it was the demon who killed Julie Covington too and took my form for the cameras. Oh yeah, the demon can take other shapes, they say. They believe that Emma Mae’s niece, Adrianna Reinhart is actually the demon in disguise.”
“And that’s what all that was about in your basement the other day? They were…hunting demons?”
“Unfortunately. Well, no, not exactly. They were actually trying to banish one. They were doing a ritual they found online to get rid of demons. It was Tibetan, I think, used by Buddhist monks.”
“Good Lord.” He kept saying that, but then I couldn’t blame him. It was a lot to take in.
“I was hoping that once Ms. Millican’s niece, Adrianna, left town and went back home, this thing might die down a little,” I explained. “I thought they’d surely realize then that this is just their overactive imaginations at work.” I shrugged. “Or maybe a touch of dementia?”
“Sounds like a hell of a lot more than a touch,” he said softly. “I’m sorry, Noah, but it does sound like some kind of mental problem. I’ll have to call my grandmother’s doctor in the morning. If you need some help with yours...”
“No, I can handle it. Thanks though.”
He was shaking his head. “This doesn’t sound like my grandmother. She’s always been a little...flighty, I guess you’d say, but she’s so sweet, and I thought, relatively harmless. But this is-this is fucking nuts.”
“I know,” I said miserably.
We sat quietly for a few minutes. It felt nice to be in the same room together and not be sniping at each other for a change, and I felt relieved in a way to have an ally, the way you do when you thought you had to face something all alone and unexpectedly find a fellow sufferer who’s in the same boat you are, even if that boat is on its way down. Kind of like at the dentist’s office, when you hear the whine of the drill and catch the eye of another patient in the waiting room with you and you both shudder.
We sat and sipped our wine again, or at least I did. He sat across from me broodingly and stared at me. Just when I thought I couldn’t take it any longer, he finally spoke. “This answers a lot of questions about my grandmother for me. I guess I haven’t spent enough time with her since my grandfather passed.”
The conversation seemed to flag after that as we sat silently drinking our wine, both of us lost in our thoughts. I got to my feet, feeling awkward. My gran would be waiting on me and wondering where I was. Considering recent events, I didn’t want to worry her. “I-I hate to drop all this on you and run, but I guess I should go. I need to check on things at home. Unless there was something else.”
“There is something I need to say. Sit back down, please, Noah. Just for a minute.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Look,” he said after I sank down on the sofa across from him. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a while now about this…whatever this is between us.”
“Whatever it is?”
His eyes flickered over my face and he blushed. “I think I know what it is, but I’m scared of it.”
“I see.”
“No, you don’t. When you first came back to town, I-I wanted to apologize for what happened between us years ago, but there never seemed to be a good time. Maybe now isn’t so great either, with all that’s going on, but if I keep waiting until the time is right, I’m afraid I might never get this said. You’ve been grieving over your parents and trying to get the shop going, and then the past couple of months, every time I saw you, you looked like you hated me.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t hate you. Not at all. But every time I saw you, you sniped at me. Like you were trying to start another argument. You seemed to take exception to everything about me, my hair, my clothes, even my family.”
He shook his head and sighed. “That’s because I notice everything about you. I more than just notice! I don’t know what to say to you anymore. It used to be so easy between us, but now I feel like I’m walking through a field of land mines. You make me feel things I shouldn’t and it pisses me off.”
“Who says you shouldn’t?”
He gave a bitter laugh. “Society, I guess. The people of this town aren’t exactly progressive. And I don’t know what to do about it. Or anything else when it comes to you. But I’m not stupid and I still don’t know what’s going on. I’ve never been attracted to any other man before or since. I’m straight!” He passed a hand over his face and sighed. “But I’ve been drawn to you since we were little kids. I thought I’d put that all in the past and explained it away. Until you came back to town. Now I can’t deny how you make me feel, even though I don’t want to feel that way.”
I tightened my lips and turned my head away from him. What the hell was he saying? He’d kissed me. Kissing other men was not exactly a thing that straight men went around doing, as a general rule, especially in Indian Springs, Alabama. And if he was so worried about it, why did he kiss me in the shop and bite me and lick me? And then bring me here to his house? For what? For ‘privacy,’ he’d said? What the hell did he want from me?
“Maybe I should just go,” I said and tried to make for the door. He stopped me, getting up to pull me back around to face him.
“No. Stop running from me. I think I’ve done enough of that for both of us. We need to talk about this. I think about you, Noah. I think about you all the time. And some of the things I think—I don’t know where those ideas are coming from. I’ve never felt this way about any other man. I swear it.”
“Like what-what kinds of things?”
“Things that aren’t strictly legal in the state of Alabama.” He smiled ruefully down at me. “And here I am, sworn to uphold the law.”
I was a little stunned, but not so much that I didn’t lift my lips again, hoping for another kiss. He looked down at me and didn’t disappoint me. His eyes were flashing at me, the shadows in the room bleaching them out a little and giving them an almost silver glint. He leaned forward a little and brushed his lips over mine. “Noah…”
I sank to my knees in front of him, looking up for permission, and he didn’t push me away. He shook his head again though, and said, “No, wait.”
Incongruously I thought about the lyrics from a cheesy, old Dean Martin song my dad used to like and he sang it sometimes while he danced my mom around the kitchen. “Your lips say no, no, but there’s yes, yes in your eyes.”
“I’m tired of waiting.” I put my hands slowly, slowly on his belt buckle and started to undo it. His eyes followed my hands at first, and he put them on my wrists, but he made no move to stop me. He just held his hands there. I looked up, hesitating for only a second. He wasn’t applying any pressure, just holding onto me and gazing down, his brows pulled together in some kind of emotion I couldn’t identify.
“Noah,” he said again softly, as I began to zip down his trousers.
“Please,” I said softly, and he sighed. Just a soft little sound that expressed some depth of feeling I didn’t completely understand. He put his hand down to my face and I turned into it to kiss his palm. He caught his breath sharply.
I took him out almost reverently and just gazed at him for a moment. He was so beautiful and perfectly formed, and the sight of him made my heart thump harder in my chest. It was so loud I was sure he’d be able to hear it. I pressed in closer, wanting to taste him. He put his hand on the back of my head. I opened my mouth over the head of his cock and slipped down over it as far as I could, tasting him with my tongue. His skin was warm and sweet, and I angled to take more of him down my throat, my lips stretching over the width of him. His breath was coming in little gasps as he held the back of my head, not forcing me, not pushing, but I imagined what it would feel like if he did. I wanted that. I wanted this to be the best he’d ever had.
I wanted him to come apart and want me even half as much as I’d always wanted him. In long deep pulls, I sucked him, using every trick I ever knew to make this good for him. When I dared, I glanced up at his face and saw his head thrown back, his lips slightly parted. He must have felt my regard because he looked down at me, his eyes that stormy blue I loved so much. Somehow that was the best part. He was watching me, looking at me, so he couldn’t be imagining it was anybody else. Slowly, I saw that he was unraveling and heard his moans and his ragged breathing, all music to my ears.
“God,” he groaned. “What are you doing to me?
I pulled off and looked up at him. “Make love to me, Nick,” I whispered softly. “Please—I want it so much.”
He grinned. “See, that’s what I’m talking about. I’m not sure I’d even know what to do.”
“I think you can figure it out easily enough. It’s not that different than what you do with your um…your lady friends. I can get myself ready. Please, Nick. Make love to me.”
“Not so different from my lady friends, huh? Just exactly when did we beam ourselves back a century? Besides, even with the hair, if you think you look anything like a girl, you’re very mistaken.” Nick rubbed the back of his hand against my five o’clock shadow. “Not even close. I like it though. On you.”
“The mechanics to the process are similar. So I’m told. I don’t have any personal experience with girls.”
“Or me with boys. Maybe we could figure it out, though,” he said, caressing the side of my face. “You’re so damn beautiful. When did that happen?”
“What do you mean? I’ve always been cute.”
“Cute yeah,” he said, smiling. “But this is a whole new level.”
I scrambled to my feet, scared he would change his mind if I gave him too much time to think about it. “Where’s the bathroom?” He gestured to the hallway and I took off, looking in the medicine cabinet first and then in his shower. I found some expensive looking conditioner and raced back to kneel on the sofa beside him. “See, I have some lube—sort of. And I have a condom in my wallet. I can stretch myself a little while you watch. W-would you like that, Nick?”
Nick shrugged and smiled. “I have no idea, but how did I not know how dirty you are?” His hand went down to his own cock, and he began to stroke himself at the idea of watching me play with myself. It actually did sound kind of hot, even to me. “Yeah,” he said, his voice growing husky again. “I wouldn’t mind seeing that. If that’s what you want.”
I grinned back at him and began stripping off my clothes. He watched me hungrily and I saw nothing but admiration on his face. I dug the condom out of my wallet and then lay down on my back on the other end of the sofa. I threw the condom to Nick. “I assume you know how to handle this part.”
Nick shook his head. “Smart little mouth. I may have to shut that up for you.” He got up and started taking his clothes off, and I just stopped and stared for a second. His body was that perfect.
“No, you don’t. Get back to work,” he said, grinning at me.
“Yes, sir,” I said, licking my lips and nervous now that we were actually here, about to do this. “I’ll stretch myself for you, okay? And you can watch me getting ready for you.”
He nodded, and I covered my fingers with the conditioner. I pulled back my legs, exposing my entrance. I put first one and then another finger inside. My eyes went heavy-lidded as I worked my fingers in and out and his mouth parted with pleasure as he watched me. My other hand was down between my legs, too, under my balls, rubbing the taut strip of skin that led to my entrance.
“God, Noah…” Nick’s voice was low and strained as he stared at me. I opened my eyes, but he shook his head. “No, don’t stop. Please.”
I smiled and moved my hands back to where they had been. Nick got to his knees and smoothed his palms down my thighs from my knees to my groin. I kept stroking softly, my cock getting harder and harder. Finally, I opened my eyes and held out my arms to him.
“Make love to me, Nick.”
He groaned and laid himself over me, kissing and sucking my throat. Then he lowered himself towards his goal and gently nudged himself against it. “You’re so damn hot. It feels like I’m about to burn myself.” He pulled back and stared down at me. “I’m not sure about this. I don’t see how I can fit. I hate it when the doctor checks me for hernias. How the hell is this gonna feel to you?”
“It feels amazing. Please, Nick, you won’t hurt me. I need you.”
I heard his muffled growl at the words, as he repositioned his slicked-up cock and tried to ease himself in. The head slid in okay, but then he encountered resistance. He looked up at me and I moved my hips encouragingly. “Harder, Nick. Push it in.”
“You’re so beautiful. Damn it, I hate whoever has been here before me.”
“No need. I’ve never wanted anybody but you.” He kissed me again and his kisses tasted so sweet, I never wanted them to stop. His lips were warm and soft and full. And when I pressed my nose into his throat, he was musky and sweet. Absolutely delicious. I pressed my lips against his moist, full ones again and then ground into them with a passion that surprised me a little. I even heard myself whimpering. Nick sighed into the kiss and touched his tongue to mine again while his big hands gently, maddeningly massaged the cheeks of my naked ass. I was electrified by it. I’d never felt anything like this before, and had never before had this lightheaded, toe-curling compulsion to be ravished by another person. I lifted my legs and wrapped them around Nick’s waist.
He thrust inside me again and again and his hips sped up until they found a rhythm. I was clutching the sides of the cushion beneath me, so I moved my hands to his shoulders to hold on.
“Too close,” he murmured. “So tight and I’ve been thinking of you like this for way too long.”
I took the gift he gave me and smiled up at him. “Don’t wait. Come for me. I want you to.” And after only a few thrusts, he tilted his head back and began to come, his hot spill filling the condom as I called out his name and clenched my fingers on his shoulders, because I was coming right along with him. I’d thought about this a long time too. He came buried deep inside me and for long moments neither of us could even breathe.
“I want to put my mark on you somehow, like in junior high,” he finally breathed into my ear. “I want other men to know to stay the hell away from you.”
“Where do we go from here, Nick? I can’t lose you again.”
He pulled me closer to him. “You won’t. I don’t want to lose you again either, but…maybe we can take it one step at a time. It’s kind of overwhelming for me. Not that I don’t want…” He sighed. “This is all so complicated.”
“Are you overwhelmed?”
He smiled at me. “A little. Do you mind? Can you give me a little time?”
Pulling his head down to me, I whispered in his ear. “I love you Nick. Of course I will. I don’t even care if you feel the same way, but I needed to tell you that.”
He pulled back to look at me, his eyes wide with wonder. “I love you too, I think. I guess. I mean, I’ve always had these crazy, strong feelings for you, even before I knew what to call them. I think I feel the same way now. Except I need to get used to the idea of being with a man. I guess the whole damn town is going to have to get used to it if we continue this. Can we go a little slow? Just for now?”
I nodded, and hid my face against his chest so he wouldn’t see he was hurting me. I did understand how hard it was to come out. Of course, I did. Try that shit when you’re fourteen years old in a redneck high school. But I felt like he still wanted to have his cake and eat it too, and I didn’t know how long I could do that. But I’d told him I’d try to take things slowly, and I would.
He settled me closer in his arms and kissed me, and for a long time afterward we lay together on the sofa, with me squashed up between him and the back of it, and I’d never been so comfortable or felt so safe.
“Just hold me, Nick
. Keep me warm.”
He pulled me even closer and wrapped his arms tightly around me. He buried his face in my hair and soon he was gently snoring. There was no chance I was waking him up, no matter how much I should probably get home or how bad an idea this probably was. I closed my eyes, snuggled up to the hardness in his groin and fell into a sound and dreamless sleep.
Chapter Eight
It was around eleven the next day, and we were getting ready for our lunch crowd at the shop when the radio of one of the deputies suddenly crackled. He put it to his ear, since he had it turned down low, and then he jumped to his feet and rushed out the door. I got a little frisson of unease just before my cell phone started ringing.
“Noah?” Nick’s voice sounded worried and maybe even a little scared. I immediately tensed up.
“Yeah, it’s me. What’s the matter?”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at work. What’s going on?”
“There’s no easy way to say this, Noah. There’s been a shooting at your grandmother’s house. I don’t have any more details than that—I’m sorry.”
“What? Oh shit! Oh my God, I’ll be right there!”
There was a hesitation, and I knew he wanted to tell me to stay away for a while until he’d secured the scene, but he must have also known it wouldn’t work so he might as well save his breath.
“Okay. I’m on my way now too. ”
“Nick, wait! Call me if…if you get there and…”
“I will. Drive safe on the way here. Don’t speed,” he said. Yeah, right.
Tina and probably the whole shop had heard my end of the conversation, so she just nodded to me when I yanked off my apron, babbled something at her and ran out the front door.
By the time I got to the house, there were cars and emergency vehicles parked everywhere, all over the street and pulled this way and that into the yard. I had barely put my car in park before I was out of it and running toward the house. A deputy met me at the door. He recognized me, but he still put his hand on my chest to keep me out.
